N. JeremiDuru

Professor of Law

Professor N. Jeremi Duru teaches sports law, civil procedure, and employment discrimination, and he is among the nation’s foremost sports law authorities. He is a co-author of one of the field’s premier casebooks, Sports Law and Regulation: Cases and Materials (3rd edition) (Wolters Kluwer), as well as one of the field’s premier explorations of sports agency, The Business of Sports Agents (3rd Edition, forthcoming) (U. of Penn Press). In addition, he is the sole author of Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL (Oxford University Press), which examines the NFL’s movement toward increased equality of opportunity for coaches and front office personnel.

Professor Duru is active in the national sports law community, serving as a member of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s Anti-Doping Review Board and the National Sports Law Institute’s Board of Advisors, but he also frequently lectures and consults abroad, most recently as a Fulbright Fellow at Faculdades Integradas Helio Alonso in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and as a Parsons Visitor at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia.

After receiving his undergraduate education at Brown University, Professor Duru completed a joint-degree program at Harvard University, receiving a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Following his graduation, Professor Duru served as a law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was then associated with the law firm of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering where he litigated complex civil actions before both state and federal courts. In 2003, Professor Duru joined Mehri & Skalet, PLLC, where he represented sports industry professionals in matters involving teams and leagues, including the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball. In recognition of this work, the National Bar Association honored Professor Duru with its 2005 Sports and Entertainment Lawyer of the Year award. Later in 2005, Professor Duru joined the faculty of Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law where he taught for seven years and won the school’s George P. Williams Memorial Award for the Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2008.

Since entering the academy, Professor Duru has continued to counsel sports industry professionals and organizations, including the Fritz Pollard Alliance of minority coaches, scouts, and front office personnel in the NFL. In addition, he has served as a Legal Analyst and Commentator for Yahoo! Sports and has provided commentary for a number of media outlets including CNN, BBC, NBC, FOX, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

More Publications...

N. Jeremi Duru, The Fritz Pollard Alliance, the Rooney Rule, and the Quest to "Level the Playing Field" in the National Football League, in Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender and Race in 21st Century Sports Law (W. Va. U. Press 2010) (reprinted in 7 Va. Sports & Ent. L. J. 179 (2008)).

N. Jeremi Duru, Moderator, The Washington Redskins – Name Change Debate (American University Sports and Entertainment Law Society Symposium, American University Washington College of Law, D.C., Feb. 2014).

Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School (Sirius XM Channel 11 Jan. 21, 2014) (Interview).

N. Jeremi Duru, Presenter, Varsity Blues: The Gift & the Curse of the College Athlete (Howard University Sports and Entertainment Law Symposium, Howard University School of Law, D.C., Apr. 2012).

N. Jeremi Duru, Presenter, The Intersection of Sports and Business in Today’s Legal Arena (Journal of Business & Technology Law Symposium, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Balt. Md., Oct. 2011).

N. Jeremi Duru, Presenter, Race and the National Football League: The Rooney Rule and Beyond (University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department, Phila., Pa., Apr. 2011).

N. Jeremi Duru, Presenter, Exploring the Racially Discriminatory Impact of International Player Restrictions in American Sport (Equality in the Workplace: Reflections from South Africa and Beyond, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Stellenbosch, S. Afr., Sept. 2008).

Selected Honors & Awards

Fulbright Fellowship (Rio de Janeiro, Braz. 2014).

Parsons Visitor (Faculty of Law, U. of Sydney, Austrl. 2014).

George P. Williams Outstanding Professor of the Year Award ( 2008).

National Bar Association Entertainment and Sports Lawyer of the Year Award ( 2005).